Dr. Jacobs has been practicing veterinary medicine in the Midland, Michigan area since 1991. Her expertise ranges from small animal internal medicine and diagnostics, pediatric medicine, soft tissue surgery, performance dog nutrition, canine reproduction and veterinary chiropractic with neuro-muscular and joint bio-mechanics.

Veterinary Chiropractic

Veterinary chiropractic is a relatively new field for animals – it has only been formally recognized since 1988. It began when Dr. Sharon Willoughby, a veterinarian like Dr. Jacobs who had an interest in working with performance and breeding dogs, began working with others like Dr. Tom Offen to investigate alternatives to pharmaceuticals to help treat animals with back, neck, limb and other issues related to spinal damage.

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Additional College IS Required

Dr. Jacobs received her Veterinary Chiropractic degree from the College of Animal Chiropractors – Veterinary Chiropractic Learning Center – Ontario, Canada in 2015. ONLY veterinarians (DVM/VMD) or human chiropractors (DC) can be accepted in colleges for certification in veterinary/animal chiropractic. Monthly written and practical examinations are required with very high scores. Only those with passion and dedication are awarded this degree.

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What Is Veterinary Chiropractic?

Contrary to what some people believe, chiropractors do NOT put a bone back in place or fix pinched nerves. Even if you where the strongest person in the world, this would not be physically possible!

Veterinary chiropractics is based solely on restoring neuro-muscular function and joint bio-mechanics. Using a small amount of action in the correct direction of joint motion, the joints between vertebrae and bones are gently restored to normal motion to allow the joints to move with more ease. This also helps nerve function by restoring blood and lymph supply to the nerves innervating both the surrounding structures, muscles and organs of the body.

Veterinary chiropractic also significantly decreases pain by stimulating large diameter fibers to the brain to “naturally” suppress pain verses solely the use of pharmaceuticals.

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Typical Veterinary Chiropractic Consultation

When visiting a certified veterinary chiropractic doctor, there are many things that may be evaluated during your visit besides the animal’s general health such as:

Detailed History

Conformation Evaluation

Muscle Development

Gait/Movement Analysis

Joint Mobility (Vertebral and Limb)

Pain Location Evaluation

Radiographic Evaluations

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What Types of Things can Veterinary Chiropractic Help With?

There are SO MANY things Veterinary Chiropractic can help with, the list is longer than can be put in this brochure. Here are just a FEW things:

Neck Pain

Back Pain

Reproductive Issues (Infertility, C-sections, etc)

Mouth/Jaw pain

Lick Granulomas

Idiopathic Vestibular Disease

Urinary Incontinence

Chronic Anal Gland Issues

Tail/Rear End Tenderness

Hip and Elbow Dysplasia

Chronic Gagging/Coughing Issues in older dogs

Chronic lameness

Degenerative Myopathy

Difficulty Climbing Stairs or Jumping

Post Surgical or Dental Pain

Dogs Sitting Off to One Side Verses Straight (obedience or agility dogs)

ANY Performance Dog Biomechanical Issue Pre- or Post- Competition

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What to Expect

The initial consultation takes about 30-45 minutes depending on if radiographs are needed. Once the areas of fixations are determined, chiropractic adjustments are done weekly, bi-weekly or monthly depending on the severity and response. The recheck appointments are approximately 10-15 minutes.

Keep this in mind: Your pet’s issue did not just “suddenly appear.” Chances are some of these issues have been coming on for many months or more. Thus the average pet may take 3 or 4 adjustments to see a significant change, however most people say they see changes much quicker in their pet – some even after only 1 adjustment.

If you have any additional questions, you can call Dr. Jacobs or set up an appointment with her to evaluation your pet.

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News/Articles

Jocelynn Jacobs DVM, CVC Some of the common questions I get this time of year from many of my clients are, “How cold is too cold to leave my dog/cat outside?” and “How long can my pet stay outside in cold weather?” Unfortunately those questions don’t have black and...